The Mangaluru police arrested two groups of people at the Karnataka-Kerala border at Talapady for allegedly producing fake RT-PCR negative reports, in an attempt to enter the state on Thursday. According to the FIR, the first group that tried to present the fake RT-PCR certificates consisted of one man and two women. The FIR stated that the three were walking to Karnataka when they were stopped for checking at 10.15 am. The FIR further stated that the man and one of the women showed the certificates on their phones. The police said that officials suspected that the dates on the certificate could have been forged, and questioned the two accused, following which they confessed. The FIR also mentioned that the other woman was carrying a forged xerox copy of the certificate

The second group arrested included four people who were travelling by car and a bike. They had tried to enter Mangaluru at 11 am after showing a RT-PCR report on their mobile phone. Police personnel, on scrutinising the document, found that the dates had allegedly been forged. Three of the accused were travelling in the car and one was travelling by bike.

All the accused have been booked under sections 417 (cheating), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 464 (making a false document), 465 (forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 (Power to take special measures and specify regulations as to epidemic disease) of The Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020.

Kerala has been reporting some of the highest numbers in India over the past week, with over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases each over the last two days. As many people arriving from Kerala are testing positive for the coronavirus, the Dakshina Kannada district administration has decided to verify RT-PCR negative reports which passengers produce on arrival, the police said.